Monday, June 10, 2024

On our knees.

 In the Sundew Bog in Strathcona Provincial Park, a narrow boardwalk leads to an observation post in the centre. And we have to stay on that boardwalk, not only to preserve the plant life, but because it's not safe to step onto the ground, even if it looks solid. It's not. So we are limited to kneeling on the boards to examine the tiny sundew plants a few inches away. Sometimes they're on mud:

A sticky mess.

Here, the leaves don't belong to the sundews. The yellowish fuzzy stuff is moss; this moss covers much of the open fen area; it's mostly orange where it's in full sun. And the sundew has caught itself some lunch:

Cropped from above photo. Trapped insect.

Sometimes the sundews are almost hidden in the moss.

Moss, sundews, and bog cranberry flowers, with their tiny leaves.

Looking through all my photos, I found several of these pink flowers, still closed. They're tiny; the open flower, to the naked eye, was just a round pink dot.

Vaccinium oxycoccos bud, cropped from another photo.

These grow in bogs and fens, or on sphagnum moss. In time, they will produce tiny cranberries. Edible, but of course, from the boardwalk, you couldn't harvest more than a mouthful, if that.

I found a clear photo on E-Flora,BC, and a photo (not clear) on iNaturalist, that was taken here in this Sundew Bog.

I also found photos on iNaturalist of the sundew plants, taken in the same place, which helped to firmly identify the sundews as the English Sundew, Drosera anglica. The other species in my guide book, D. rotundifolia, has rounder leaves.

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En la Ciénaga de Rocíos del Sol, en el parque provincial Strathcona, un caminito angosto hecho de tablas de madera nos lleva a una plataforma para observación en el centro del pantano. Y hay que quedarse en ese camino, no solo para preservar las plantas, sino porque es peligroso pisar ese terreno. Parece ser tierra firme; no lo es. Así que nos limitamos a ponernos de rodillas en las tablas para examinar las plantitas que crecen dentro de unos centímetros. Algunos están creciendo sobre lodo:

Foto #1: Rocíos del sol, Drosera anglica. Con otras plantas; ninguna de las hojas pertenece a las plantas carnívoras. Las hojas amarillas son de un musgo pequeño; donde le llega pleno sol, se ve anaranjado.

    #2: Un insecto atrapado por esas hojas pegajosas.

    #3: A veces las plantitas se esconden entre el musgo. La flor color de rosa aquí es de arándano de pantanos, Vaccinium oxycoccos. Un puntito color de rosa, visto a simple vista. 

    #4: Buscando en todas mis fotos, encontré varias de estas flores, la mayoría todavía sin abrir. 

Estos arándanos crecen en pantanos, ciénagas, o sobre musgos esfagnos. Luego producirán pequeñas bayas, que son comestibles, aunque no se podría cosechar más que una probadita, sin hundirnos en el lodo.

Encontré una foto bien clara en E-Flora, BC, (haz clic aquí), y una foto no tan clara en iNaturalist, de flores en este mismo pantano. 

También encontré unas fotos en iNaturalist de las plantas carnívoras, lo que me ayudó a identificarlas con alguna certeza como Drosera anglica; otra de los Rocíos del Sol que aparecen en mi libro guía son D. rotundifolia; sus hojas son más redondas.


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